The invention relates to a kitchen appliance having a housing and a motor which is accommodated in the housing; having protection means for the motor accommodated in the housing; and having a container, which can be placed onto the housing and is removable from the housing. The container contains a derivable tool and can be closed by means of a cover, and has control means, which cooperate with the cover and aid in controlling the protection means of the kitchen appliance.
The invention further relates to a container for a kitchen appliance, which container has the features outlined briefly above.
Such a kitchen appliance and such a container are known from the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,049 A. In the known kitchen appliance the cover of the container must be placed onto the container in a comparatively accurate angular position relative to the container and must be pressed down onto the container parallel to the height direction of the container, in order to guarantee that the cover is locked to the container with the aid of a snap-on latching hook. This process requires a comparatively precise manipulation. A first coupling device couples the cover to the control means. Furthermore, the construction of the known kitchen appliance is such that the first coupling device has an arm which is led out of the cover towards the container, as a result of which this projecting arm is relatively likely to be damaged once the cover has been removed.
In the known kitchen appliance the arm of the first coupling device cooperates with a control slide provided in the handle portion of the container. The control slide forms the control means, and is adapted and arranged to cooperate with a safety slide. The safety slide forms a part of the protection means of the known kitchen appliance and is led through an upper wall of the housing of the known kitchen appliance. In the known kitchen appliance the safety slide is spring-loaded with the aid of a pressure spring, as a result of which the control slide, which is disposed in the container, is also spring-loaded by said pressure spring when the container is placed on the kitchen appliance.
In the known kitchen appliance the construction outlined above leads to the situation that with the aid of the force exerted on the control slide via the arm of the first coupling means, i.e. ultimately the force exerted on the cover by the user, the control slide provided as control means is actuated compulsively (that is, is forced to move) when the cover is brought into its closed position. With the aid of the safety slide, which projects from the kitchen appliance, the control slide is actuated by the force of the pressure spring when the cover is removed.
This construction creates the problem that the area where the safety slide projects from the housing of the known kitchen appliance may become soiled comparatively easily, which soiling in an unfavorable case may even extend up to the pressure spring provided as the return spring. As a result of this soiling it is no longer guaranteed that the safety slide is movable into its locking position by means of the force of the pressure spring. This leads to the disadvantage that in spite of the removal of the container from the known kitchen appliance, the safety slide is in its disengaging position and thus driving of the motor continues despite the removal of the container from the kitchen appliance. This result is unsafe and undesirable.
It is an object of the invention to preclude the aforementioned problems and to provide an improved kitchen appliance and an improved container for a kitchen appliance.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, characteristic features in accordance with the invention have been provided in a kitchen appliance in accordance with the invention. In such a kitchen appliance the container has control means, which are movable between a rest position and an active position and which are coupled to the cover via first coupling means and are coupled to the protection means via second coupling means. The first coupling means are arranged such that as a result of a movement of the cover from its open position into its closed position the control means are compulsively moved from their rest position into their active position by means of the force exerted on the control means by the cover via the first coupling means; and such that as a result of a movement of the cover from its closed position into its open position the control means are compulsively moved from their active position into their rest position by means of the force exerted on the control slide by the cover via the first coupling means.
The second coupling means is arranged such that as a result of a movement of the container from its placement position into its operating position the protection means are compulsively moved from their locking position into their disengaging position, and such that as a result of the movement of the container from its operating position into its placement position the protection means are compulsively moved from their disengaging position into their locking position.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object characteristic features in accordance with the invention have been provided in a container in accordance with the invention, in such a manner that a container in accordance with the invention can be characterized in the manner defined hereinafter, namely:
A container for a kitchen appliance, which container serves to hold a substance to be processed and which is adapted to be placed onto a housing of the kitchen appliance in the area of a housing wall of the housing and which by its placement onto the housing can be brought into a placement position on the housing and which is adapted to be movable from its placement position into an operating position and vice versa, in which operating position it is also disposed on the housing of the kitchen appliance in the area of the housing wall, and which contains a derivable tool for processing a substance present in the container, which tool, and which can be closed by means of a removable cover, which cover is movable relative to the container between an open position and a closed position, and which has control means, which are movable between a rest position and an active position and which are coupled to the cover via first coupling means and which, moreover, can be coupled to protection means of the kitchen appliance via second coupling means, in which the first coupling means have a construction which is such that as a result of a movement of the cover from its open position into its closed position the control means are compulsively movable from their rest position into their active position by means of the force exerted on the control means by the cover via the first coupling means, and in which the first coupling means further have a construction which is such that as a result of a movement of the cover from its closed position into its open position the control means are compulsively movable from their active position into their rest position by means of the force exerted on the control slide by the cover via the first coupling means, and in which the second coupling means have a construction which is such that as a result of a movement of the container from its placement position into its operating position the protection means are compulsively movable from their locking position into their disengaging position, and in which the second coupling means further have a construction which is such that as a result of the movement of the container from its operating position into its placement position the protection means are compulsively movable from their disengaging position into their locking position.
Owing to the provision of the measures in accordance with the invention it is achieved in a simple and cost-effective as well as space-saving manner that both during the movement of the cover from its open position into its closed position and during the movement of the cover from its closed position into its open position the control means and, consequently, protection means, which are coupled to the control means via the second coupling means, are always actuated compulsively, as a result of which it is not only guaranteed that starting of the motor of the kitchen appliance is enabled in a reliable manner upon closure of the cover but that it is also guaranteed that starting of the motor is inhibited in a reliable manner upon opening of the cover, thereby assuring that undesired continued operation of the motor is precluded. Furthermore, it is thus achieved that both when the container is moved from its placement position into its operating position and when the container is moved from its operating position into its placement position, which is also its removal position, the protection means are always actuated compulsively, which guarantees that starting of the motor of the kitchen appliance is always enabled in a reliable manner when a container is moved into its operating position and which guarantees that starting of the motor is always inhibited in a reliable manner when the container is moved into its placement position or removal position, thereby assuring that undesired continued operation of the motor is precluded.
In a kitchen appliance in accordance with the invention and in a container in accordance with the invention it has proved to be particularly advantageous when the first coupling means are formed by a pin-and-slot coupling because this forms a particularly reliable and trouble-free construction.
In a kitchen appliance in accordance with the invention it has further proved to be advantageous when the second coupling means are formed with the aid of a movable slide and two coupling pins which project from the slide as well as two inclined coupling surfaces, which are each adapted to cooperate with one of the two coupling pins and of which one coupling surface has been provided on the control means and the other coupling surface has been provided on the container.
The aforementioned aspects as well as further aspects of the invention will be apparent from the example of an embodiment described hereinafter and will be elucidated with the aid of this example.
The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to an embodiment which is shown in the drawings by way of example but to which the invention is not limited.